Senior Congress leader and union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh Friday took an indirect dig at Congress president Sonia Gandhi by saying that the 'yardstick of loyalty in the Congress has become limited these days', while praising Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and even Sanjay Gandhi.

Singh, who has already created a stir by his statement that there is no internal democracy in the Congress, said: 'Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhi had a great ability to recognise loyal people, and could differentiate between real loyalty and fake loyalty.'

The HRD minister, collection of articles on whom titled 'Mohin Kahan Vishram' (No rest for me) was released Friday evening, said he was a person who was opposed to the Emergency in 1975 'because it was misused'.

He said, however, both Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi allowed him to air his views. He said that in 1980 he ran for elections on a Congress ticket and Sanjay Gandhi even campaigned for him despite his criticism against the Emergency.

'I could not have 51 years of public life if I had failed to have the trust of Nehru, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, adivasis, backwards classes of Madhya Pradesh, dacoits of Chambal ravines, Sant Harcharan Singh Longowal and terrorists of Punjab.'

Launching the book, President Pratibha Patil said: 'Politics is hard life in which private and public life blur.'

Interestingly, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was present on the occasion, did not speak.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee criticised the political parties for 'encouraging divisiveness and tension in the society'.

The book, edited by Kanhaiyalal Nandan, does not have any reference to the present leadership of the Congress, including Sonia Gandhi or her son Rahul Gandhi.